Dutch Securing E-voting After Being Pwned 269
An anonymous reader writes, "After the Dutch we-don't-trust-voting-computers foundation demonstrated glaring security holes in Dutch voting computers last week, the Dutch government has ordered (Dutch) all software to be replaced, all hardware to be checked, unflashable firmware to be installed, and an iron seal to be placed on voting machines. A certification institute will double-check all measures, and on election day will cull random machines to check them for accuracy. The Dutch intelligence service AIVD has been approached to consult on the radio emissions issue. Furthermore, foreign observers will monitor the upcoming elections on November 22nd. But the action group is still not confident (Dutch) that all problems are solved." US elections are controlled at the local level, so unfortunately such a nationwide fix would not be workable here.
Re:"pwned"? (Score:5, Insightful)
What is "pwned"?
.. something that shouldn't belong in a slashdot headline..
Paper trail? (Score:4, Insightful)
It appears that the machines only create a paper copy of the results at the end of the day...
Huh? (Score:1, Insightful)
impossible wtf or impossible, wtf? (Score:4, Insightful)
Why the hell wouldn't it be? Sure it would cost more and probably be harder to setup than in holland since there is more territory and a much higher population count, but not workable? We're talking democracy at stake here, I don't see much that you could want to "fix" more than the risk of losing your voice, of making your votes irrelevant and inexistant, or being cheated out of choosing your leaders and the way your country will behave in the future.
Of course, some people may be more interested in there being a high risk of electronic electoral fraud, if they're committing or benefiting from the fraud in the first place...
Re:What is the theory... (Score:4, Insightful)
'Independent committee'? (Score:3, Insightful)
Let's hope this committee will have access to the source code, and will be able to monitor and verify that the new PROMs actually contain the code the committee has been reviewing.
I, for one, welcome our election-monitoring overlords. Where do I sign up to be one of them?
It would work (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure it would. Powers reserved for the states have been nationalized over and over again by the simple application of cash: The federal government offers funding for a particular project but you have to follow the federal rules to get it. The federal rules are rarely too onorous and the money you don't have to collect in local taxes is too much to turn down when the neighboring states all take it.
Re:What is the theory... (Score:3, Insightful)
Always kdawson (Score:5, Insightful)
What Slashdot need to remember is that their headlines show up in a variety of professional places (by rss) - Google news for one, and having words such as "pwned" looks beyond amateurish.
How about the next story being "Slashdot editors pwned with a dictionary, improvements expected all round"?
Re:One of the major concerns... (Score:4, Insightful)
What Microsoft does in an xbox360 is not relevant to what a small engineering company would have done over 20 years ago.
You could call it the disadvantage of an early rollout of modern technology.
On the other hand, you can also claim that the current hardware can be understood by a causal onlooker with electronics and software background.
It contains only off-the-shelf parts and the protest group was able to disassemble and analyze it (as well as port a chess program to the hardware) in a months time.
Try that with an Xbox.
Stop putting 'owned' in headlines! (Score:1, Insightful)
Frankly it makes me cringe to read it and I don't even have to put up with this kind of crap on Kuro5hin, it's more annoying than Roland.
CUT IT OUT!
Re:Paper trail? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes. I never understood the use of that. Nice that you can verify that the count the machine reported electronically matches what it printed on paper, but that doesn't say _anything_ at all about whether it's been tampered with, right?
I always thought that the simple solution would be that the machine print out what you just voted, and you check that this is what you intended and dump the printout in a ballot box. If there's any doubt about the reliability of the machines, count the votes on the printouts; they have been verified by the voters to contain the correct data.
Re:Always kdawson (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What is the theory... (Score:5, Insightful)
Because they used paper, there was something to find.
"In my state of WV they are still prosecuting people for vote buying and ballot box stuffing."
Because they used paper, and there was something which could be found.
Re:lol, dutch are gay (Score:3, Insightful)
Let me fix that for you:
There. No problem, no need to thank me.
Re:Always kdawson (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Arguments for local control of voting regulatio (Score:3, Insightful)
Good post. Just to clarify some things:
Arguments for local control of voting regulations. [...]
1 - The United States Of America was designed as a confederation of (mostly) independent states. Only the powers explicitly given to the federal government are not the jurisdiction of the states.
Actually a federation rather than a confederation. The difference is slight but important. Nonetheless, the 10th ammendment is very specific about the limits of powers of the federal government vs state governments.
Most of the expansion of federal authority has been carried out under the commerce clause of the Constitution -- that Washington has authority over matters of interstate trade, which has been used to enforce federal regulations from industrial emmissions to minimum wage to drug enforcement, etc. And it also comes into play when the Feds distribute federal HAVA (Help America Vote Act) funds to states. Though these only really apply to federal elections (i.e. Congress and President), no state is willing to maintain one election system for local and state elections and a second for federal elections.
The 14th ammendment guarantees equal access to the polls, but does not, and cannot dictate the mechanisms and procedures used on the state level, other than making sure that they are compatible with the 14th ammendment and the Voting Rights Act.
2 - The innovative power of the open market. The belief that by allowing a competition of ideas in how best to run elections (as long as they meet minimal standards) the best choice will be eventually reached.
The first point is far more applicable. Elections are the responsibility of the state, not the federal government. Each state has the power to determine its own election laws and practices, and laws vary widely. WA, for example, is moving towards all-mail voting. SD is exempt from HAVA provisions mandating state-wide voter databases since that state does not require voter registration.
Some states allow election day registration, others do not. Some states allow any voter to vote in all primary elections, some allow it for one primary election, and some states require that voters be registered in a given party to vote that party's primary ballot.
The benefits of open competition are positive, but a side effect.
And to the Anonymous Asshat who replied earlier: Diebold is not the leader in voting hardware. ES&S machines are used in roughly 50 percent of precincts and by roughly 50 percent of the US population. I believe, though am by no means sure, that Sequoia is the number two vendor by market share.
3 - Local boards of elections consist of an equal number of members of both parties. The belief is that Democrats won't allow Republicans to steal the election, and vise versa.
Again, this depends on the state. In some, like Ohio, the State Board of Elections is divided by state law between the two major parties. In some states the board is appointed while in others others Board seats are elected positions. While I'm not aware of any states that have election boards made up of members from only one party, there are many states that do not allocate board seats by party affiliation.
Re:"pwned"? (Score:2, Insightful)
If the answer is yes, don't post it on slashdot.
I hate redundant news.
Anyone complaining about seeing the word "pwned" on a geek website better get their news from somewhere else.
Re:"pwned"? (Score:2, Insightful)
You sure you're not new here????
This is Slashdot, not the NYT, or the WSJ. We're GEEKS dammit!
Re:impossible wtf or impossible, wtf? (Score:2, Insightful)
You say that like it's a good thing. Federal bullying of states and localities is not something we should be encouraging. I'd rather try to raise a ruckus in my county about sensible election equipment, i.e., take it on as MY problem as a citizen, than have the feds dictate how we run our elections. I don't trust them.